Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Jumbled Sunshine Review: The NEW "Inbox by Gmail"

Have you heard about the new "Inbox by Google" email app? It's a whole new way to interact with your email account, and it may revolutionize the way we use email in our everyday lives. If you're afraid of change, no worries, this app works with Gmail, but it doesn't replace it. You can go back and forth between the two or totally ignore it and stick with what you're doing. But if you're brave and like new innovation, I recommend that you check it out! www.google.com/inbox

As I've been looking for answers to various details about inbox, I ran across some articles criticizing the new interface as being too complicated. It's true that it takes a bit of time to get your mind wrapped around it because it's so un-email-like. But that's exactly what makes it's approach so fascinating and why I decided to try it out. Never fear - I have seen positive reviews, too.

So - I thought it would be fun to chime into the conversation with a positive review of my own. Here goes:

I love it!!!!(Wait, I think I need a few more exclamation points and loves...)I Love, Love, Love It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep. That's my overall impression after using it for less than 24 hours. There are a few glitches in this first version, and some features that are missing (that are available in Gmail) that I'd like to see in the future. But Google is pretty good at improving and innovating when a program starts to take off with the public, so I guess we'll see how it evolves as time goes on.

In the meantime, here are a few resources to help you understand how Inbox works, and "My Take" on what's so awesome about the new system. (I'm not going into too many details because I want to get back to playing with my new Inbox!) If you have additional questions about my personal experience with it so far, feel free to ask me in the comments section below. Or send me a tweet: @jumbledsunshine.

OVERVIEW:

First, here's a quick video overview to give you an idea of what it's all about:

Next, here's a link to Google's official Inbox by Gmail site that explains the features and overall interface: www.google.com/inbox.

MY TAKE:

When you first open Inbox by Gmail, it takes a few minutes to get your head around what is going on. But if you'll just slow down, be patient, and play around with it for a few minutes, you'll start to understand what's there, how the information is arranged, and how many benefits you'll be getting from this new interface. (It took me less than 30 minutes to FALL IN LOVE with it!)

I think there are some misunderstandings from those who haven't tried it yet. Some people think it's all about labels and folders. But it's not. It's not about "sorting" your emails after you read them (though your original email labels are there if you want to do that.) It's about the system automatically "bundling" the emails as they come in, and keeping them in front of your face until you DEAL WITH THEM. That's right - no more lost emails because you filed it away somewhere and forgot about it! How great is that?!?

When looking through a "bundle" of emails, you can easily "pin" any that you want to look at, and then get rid of the rest (aka "archive" them) with ONE CLICK. This makes it easy to clear away all the junk and see exactly the important items you need. But it's better than a filter, because it gives you a few seconds to glance through and make sure none of them are important before they are swished away.

This is going to save me SO MUCH TIME!!!!

Inbox is wonderful because it's about turning your email into more of a "task app" so that you can DO the task that the email is requiring, or you can SNOOZE it for later, or mark it as "DONE". Just like a task. HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!? A task manager, reminder system, and email combined! No more separate task reminder apps that you have to integrate with your email and try to hack into a workable system.

For a busy person who is dealing with "to do's" in email all the time (like me!) this program is a DREAM COME TRUE! It has some flaws/glitches that will probably be fixed over time, but I really hope that people catch the vision because I have only used it for a day and I feel that it has REVOLUTIONIZED my email experience. I cannot overstate how happy I am to see this new approach and I'm so excited to share it with my friends and readers.

How To Get Inbox

Now the bad news - there's one caveat - if you're excited about trying Google's Inbox after my glowing review, you may have to wait a bit. Right now use of the program is by "invite only" and I was lucky enough to secure one (thank you Joseph!). To request your own invitation, send an email to inbox@google.com, or ask a friend who has it to send you an invitation. Unfortunately, no invitations are showing up in my Inbox yet, so I can't send any out, but if you're interested in getting one, reply below and I will send you an invite if/when I get access to some.

Well, gotta go - I have email to check! (When was the last time I was excited about that? It's awesome.)

Disclaimer:

This blog contains the unique thoughts of the author and does not represent the views, official or otherwise, of any group, club, religion, or family of which she is a member. All thoughts, suggestions, and techniques are for entertainment and experimentation only, and blog readers acknowledge by their participation that they are aware of all risks, inherent or otherwise, they are getting themselves into by following said techniques. In other words, the author is not liable for any disasters that result from implementation of the ideas herein. However, she will be happy to join in your celebration when you find success on your own journey of finding joy in a fascinating world of distractions! Please share your stories with our readers so we can all learn and grow together in our world of Jumbled Sunshine. :) ~Erika~